Sparkling Italians

Chiara Rizzo on the cover of a magazine called "Il Foglio Italiano"
Chiara Rizzo on the cover of a magazine called “Il Foglio Italiano”

It is has been a torrid week in Italy with temperatures in Rome hitting 34 degrees Celsius (mid-nineties Fahrenheit).  Many Italians — my husband Gustavo and my colleague Paolo included– hate air conditioning, so I sweat and suffer at home and at work.  My computer was not happy with all the hot air either, getting so steadily overheated that it wasn’t functioning properly.  As a result my WordPress went wacko on me and many of you blog readers have received old posts and a post in Italian that should not have been there.  Sorry about that. As I write, I have a packet of frozen hamburger meat under my Macbook to make sure it does not overheat again.  (Once it defrosts, I will prepare meatloaf for tonight’s dinner).

Far better than Mom’s meatloaf at home on these steamy days, is to go out to a late dinner at an outdoor restaurant in a Roman piazza when it is a bit cooler and no AC is needed.  A waiter will arrive and ask you whether you would like water that is “liscia, gassata, o leggermente frizzante” — that would be “flat, with bubbles or slightly sparkling”.  Italians usually prefer “leggermente frizzante” — slightly sparkling, and for me that has become a metaphor of how Italians like to be– Slightly Sparkling.   They want to be beautiful, and fascinating enough to excite you, but not so bubbly as to make you burp.  It is all part of the “Bella Figura”. (See my Blog Post : “Espresso, Corruption, Murder…and The Bella Figura.”

Yesterday in Manaus, Brazil, the Italian National Football (Soccer) Team, was “slightly sparkling”, beating England 2-1 in the opening match with stunning goals from left wing Claudio Marchisio who gave a powerful kick that cut through a phalanx of players to reach the goal, and a fabulous header from my favourite attacker Mario Balotelli, (see Blog Posts:  “Balotelli’s Mamma” and “Mario Balotelli Forever“)

Italy definitely needed the morale boost because for the past few months the country has been sinking in scandals.  Glug. Glug. Glug. Everyday there is a new one — Ministers arrested, gazillions of euros pocketed by politicians, public works projects derailed by massive corruption, it never ends.

My favourite bubbly scandal is the story of Chiara Rizzo, a gorgeous 44-year-old woman now sitting in a prison in Reggio Calabria, the toe of the boot of Italy.

Chiara Rizzo — also known as “Madame Champagne” — was half of the “frizzante” (sparkling) couple of Montecarlo, together with husband Amedeo Matacena, a ship owner from Southern Italy and a former member of the Italian parliament.  They were part of Montecarlo’s high-society jet-setters.  Rizzo was even chosen as one of the 11 most beautiful women of Monaco and her glamorous photos were put into a glossy coffee-table book titled, “Women of Monaco.”

The "sparkling" couple Chiara Rizzo and Amedeo Matacena
The “sparkling” couple Chiara Rizzo and Amedeo Matacena

The couple has lost some of its sparkle following the conviction of Amedeo Matacena for Mafia association for his relations with the powerful ‘Ndrangheta Mafia that has its base in the Calabria region of Italy.   Matacena has been sentenced in absentia to five years in prison and is now a fugitive from justice living in Dubai.  Police in Dubai have apparently taken his passport.

At the beginning of May, anti-Mafia police arrested Claudio Scajola, the former Italian Minister of Interior from 2001-2002 and threw him in the Regina Coeli prison in the Trastevere neighborhood of Rome.  He was accused of aiding a fugitive from justice (Matacena), and trying to help him get from Dubai to Lebanon.

Former Italian Interior Minister Claudio Scajola after he was arrested by anti-mafia police. May 2014
Former Italian Interior Minister Claudio Scajola after he was arrested by anti-mafia police. Scajola is the grey-haired man at the back. May 2014

To make this deliciously long, sordid story short, Scajola’s defense has been that he acted to save the woman he was madly in love with, Matacena’s wife Chiara Rizzo.

Chiara Rizzo — who at that point was in Dubai with her fugitive husband– decided to head back to Europe to face the charges against her.  She flew to France in May, was held briefly before being handed over to Italian police who popped her into a prison in Calabria. She is charged with assisting a fugitive, for trying to organize her husband’s escape to Lebanon, but even worse, she is also accused of false registration of property and of having hidden the ownership of various companies linked to her husband.

Chiara Rizzo in handcuffs as she is handed from French police to Italian police. May, 2014
Chiara Rizzo in handcuffs as she is handed from French police to Italian police. May, 2014

The Italian press has had a field day with the details of this story and the photos of Rizzo and I have gobbled it all up. So as I sweated it out in my air-condition-less, second-hand Fiat Punto this week feeling my perspiring back stick to the seat as I carted my kids around the city– I got a certain sick pleasure in gnawing over the details of the downfall of the “sparkling” Chiara Rizzo who once had her photo taking sprawled on the engine of a red Ferrari.  I may not be able to afford a Ferrari, or even have an air-conditioned car, but at least I am not sweating it out in a prison in Reggio Calabria.

Chiara Rizzo poses on a Red Ferrari
Chiara Rizzo poses on a Red Ferrari

Of course Minister Scajola is not the only politician feeling the heat these days.  Former Italian Senator Marcello Dell’Utri was extradited from Beirut, Lebanon this week and taken from Rome’s Fiumicino airport directly to prison.  He is convicted of association with the Sicilian Mafia and has been sentenced to seven years in prison.  He was one of the founder of Silvio Berlusconi’s “Forza Italia” party.

Former Italian Senator Marcello Dell'Utri, convicted of Mafia association and sentence to seven years in prison.
Former Italian Senator Marcello Dell’Utri, convicted of Mafia association and sentence to seven years in prison.

But in case anyone thinks it is just the Berlusconi boys who are corrupt, think again.

Corrado Clini, Minister of Environment under the Mario Monti government is now under house arrest, accused of pocketing one million euro that was intended for an environmental project in Iraq.   Turns out the money was going into a bank account in Switzerland with the name “Pesce” (Fish in English).  I feel a distinct water theme emerging in this post — and there is lot more water to come, so much it could sink the city of Venice.

At the beginning of June a new scandal exploded — the massive multi-billion euro Moses project to save the Lagoon city of Venice from sinking under water is drowning the city in corruption. Police arrested 30 people including the Mayor of the city, Giorgio Orsoni.  Police said in a three year investigation they discovered a 25 million euro (34 million dollars) slush fund  that was being used to bribe politicians.  Mayor Orsoni resigned on Friday after declaring he was guilty and reaching a plea bargain.  Orsoni is from Prime Minister’s Matteo Renzi’s Democratic Party.

Former Mayor of Venice, Giorgio Orsoni, who resigned in May amidst a corruption scandal involving the Moses Project.
Former Mayor of Venice, Giorgio Orsoni, who resigned in May amidst a corruption scandal involving the Moses Project.

The five billion euro (6.8 million dollar)  Moses project was launched by then Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in 2003 and is expected to be finished in 2016. It foresees placing 78 massive underwater mobile gates in the sea around Venice, as the tide rises the gates rise up blocking the water from flooding the city.

Then there is the corruption surrounding preparations for the EXPO 2015 in Milan.  Italy has been eagerly pouring cash into that city preparing for this international event which is expected to give a boost to the Italian economy.  But again, in May police arrested seven people involved kickbacks on building contracts.  In this case it was a mere 180 million euros (250 million dollars) that investigators said were skimmed off.

Last April, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi plucked famed anti-mafia prosecutor Raffaele Cantone to become is anti-corruption Czar.  Cantone was the prosecutor in Naples who is credited with destroying the Casalesi clan of the Camorra Mafia in the famous Spartacus trials.

Raffaele Cantone, the President of Italy's Anti-Corruption Agency
Raffaele Cantone, the President of Italy’s Anti-Corruption Agency

Cantone spoke earlier this week at a conference on corruption at Rome’s Foreign Ministry.  He glumly noted that he only had a staff of 26 people to monitor corruption in all of Italy’s public offices from the city halls and public health offices, to the public works projects.  Then, he noted, when they find corruption he has no power to sanction.  He explained that these problems makes his work “monco” — translated I guess that would be truncated, amputated, or mutilated. In other words, ineffective.

As I edited the video of these comments I noted that Cantone seems anything but “sparkling”.  A bit of a gloomy Gus, but given the way things are going in Italy, I don’t blame him.  Actually he reminded me of Eliot Ness, the “prohibition  agent” played by Kevin Costner in “The Untouchables” and the man behind the capture of Mafia boss Al Capone.

Friday night in a desperate attempt to stanch the flow of money to the corrupt, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announced he was giving new powers to Cantone, more staff, the possibility to put fines on corrupt companies, and takeover public works projects that have been sullied with corruption.

Let’s see how it goes for Cantone the non-sparkler.  I definitely think it is time for some Italian “acqua liscia,” (water without bubbles).

By the way, my own Gus (my husband Gustavo, a Professor of Economics and expert on corruption) says I’ve got it all wrong.  He says this is all good news because what is rotten in the country is now being exposed.

17 thoughts on “Sparkling Italians”

  1. I just read about the arrests in the Moses project the other day while in Cortina, but knew little of the other scandals until now. What a way to run a country! But then again, I live in New Jersey where we are no strangers to politicians taking money to advance special interests. Let’s hope your Gus is right and that this helps expose all the dirt and turn the tide in the other direction.

    1. Trisha Thomas

      Thanks Linda, I wish I could be as optimistic as my husband, but when I first came to Italy 20 years ago they were going through the Mani Pulite (Clean Hands) corruption trials and everyone said it was going to be cleaned up, a new political class would come in, and everything would be better. Well it doesn’t look like anything of the sort has happened.

  2. I often wonder how different it is from the US between executive compensation, lobbying, interlocking corporate directorships, and special interests in general. At least in Italy, it seems to be regularly exposed and criticized, while here we seem to just accept it.

    BTW, I was saving the posts in Italian to read when I was in the mood for some mental work!

    1. Trisha Thomas

      Carina — You make an important point. What we are seeing here in Italy is massive political bribes — in the US that is legal — it is called Lobbying. So, easy for me to sit here and criticize. However, I always tell Italians that as a journalist covering their country I examine and criticize what is happening here — it does not mean I am saying that the US is better.

    1. Trisha Thomas

      I agree, almost seems to juicy to be true. I don’t need novels, I just read the newspapers!!

  3. As a practitioner of the “dismal science”, Prof Gustavo of course understands how corruption distorts laws of supply and demand. So exposing corruption must be a good thing. What economic laws govern the supply of sparkling blondes on red Ferraris… I would be glad to learn….

    1. Trisha Thomas

      NO doubt there is a increase in demand among rich men for red Ferraris if they imagine that it will attract sparkling blondes!

    1. Trisha Thomas

      Thank you Dana! All you need to do (I think) is put your email address is the SUBSCRIBE BY EMAIL box on the right hand side of the post. Then you should get an email asking you to click to confirm you want to subscribe. Ah, but maybe you meant you want more in Italian.. I rarely have them translated into Italian but if you want to see all the blog posts that have been translated, you need to go on the home page https://www.mozzarellamamma.com — where there is a picture of me in a red dress standing in front of the AP office in Rome– and on the top right there is a list of things to click on and if you click on ITALIANO, then on BLOG, then it should go to all the blog posts that have been translated into Italian.

  4. . . what tangled webs we weave – but then again, is there any difference in practices between ‘normal’ business, politicians, the EU and the mafia (and a lot of law enforcement)? I don’t think so. Then again, what do I know, I’m just one of the honest majority of the population.

  5. Scandalous! So much at once! I hope things get better, but doesn’t it just seem so ingrained in Italian society? I wonder if it will ever change.

    About the AC – Girlfriend, Gustavo has to get with it. I would not be able to stand life without it. Thank heavens Bart loves it even more than I.

    Thanks for a wonderful post.

    1. Trisha Thomas

      I don’t think Italian society will ever change. It just is the way it is.

      As far as the AC is concerned, I got in first in the office today and turned it on so the office is nice and cool. But now it is 4pm and the sun is beating down on the window and my Neapolitan anti-AC colleague just decided to open the window to let in some nice afternoon heat. Che devo fare??

  6. Ciao Trisha. As an Italian citizen I agree with your husband: it is time that the rotten part of this country comes to light, exposed to justice and public humiliation: Otherwise, at the next election, it will be dear old Beppe Grillo who gets the 40% of votes, and not Renzie. Have a nice afternoon, Silvia.;)

    1. Trisha Thomas

      Silvia — Thank you for your comment. I am so glad you agree with my husband (I rarely agree with him on anything). It is good to see the glass half full and hope that all these revelations of corruption will lead to some significant change.

  7. Well done, well done! And Amen to Gustavo’s declaration that it is time for truth telling. And you have done an amazing job here. The often used politician’s ploy, Look at the babe on my arm and vote for me because I am the stud you want to be, is losing it’s appeal, thanks to writer’s like you, who show them up as just another guy wearing a stupid hat.
    Your posts on women, ancient and modern, are exceptional. I think you should consider a collection on Italian women!

    1. Trisha Thomas

      Thank you Nancy, you are too kind. I like your idea of a collection on Italian women young and old, ancient and modern. It would be fun.

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